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Published November 1975 | public
Journal Article

Precise isotopic analysis of lead in picomole and subpicomole quantities

Abstract

A microanalytical procedure for the separation of Pb and U and their determination by isotope dilution-mass spectrometry is described. It is shown that high precision isotopic analysis of as little as 8 X 10^(11) Pb atoms is readily achievable. The level of Pb contamination is reduced to as little as 4 X 10^(10) atoms and the blank fluctuation is controllable. In the special case where the chemical separation could be omitted, 4 X 10^(10) Pb atoms were isotopically analyzed with a blank correction of 6 X 10^9 Pb atoms. This procedure was applied to a 0.2-mg lunar sample containing 2.5 ppm Pb and 1 ppm U and the U-Pb isotopic measurements obtained are Fully compatible with measurements on large samples. In addition, Pb on the surface of individual lunar glass balls of 150-300 µm diameter was measured. Extension of this approach to other heavy metals may be possible.

Additional Information

© 1975 American Chemical Society. Received for review May 12, 1975. Accepted August 7, 1975. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (MPS-7102670 A05) and a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NGL-05-002-188). CIT Contribution No. 2602. Editorial diligence by A. J. Gancarz and skillful support by Lily Ray are acknowledged.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023